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A Midnight Clear, a WWII movie sometime in mid90s, about the western theater after 1944 D-Day.

In winter 1944, small recon squad of the US Army, after sustaining loss of half of the team, was tasked with a new recon mission: to investigate a villa in very remote mountainous forest region. The squad occupied the villa without any encountering, but true is they were actually under the watch of a German squad, who for some mysterious reason didn't attacked the American GIs. The reason was soon revealed: the German intended to surrender, because they knew Germany had lost the war and therefore they saw no rationale to fight for the regime they didn't love. Here's the catch. They couldn't let their comrades to discover that this German squad surrendered without a fight, or their families would suffer for them. And time was against the both squad, as the German counter-offense was upcoming. The problem on the American side was, that their commander sitting back in the back couldn't be trusted. So the both squads needed to work together to stage a fake battle to fool the both sides. Result would be a Christmas they would never forget.

Gravity was really good. No one in japan seems to have heard of it, and there seems to be no advertising. :-(Probably the best film I saw last year (just!). My second favorite turned out to be, surprisingly, Dredd.

Gravity was really good. No one in japan seems to have heard of it, and there seems to be no advertising. :-(Probably the best film I saw last year (just!). My second favorite turned out to be, surprisingly, Dredd.

Yeah! I was expecting it to be kind of meh, but the whole disaster movie aspect complimented the character's arc, rather than drowning it out, so it was satisfyingly exhilarating but it felt like more than that, even so. It also did some great work avoiding some dull and tedious tropes to tell a really tight story with absolutely no flab. I very much enjoyed it.

This novel is an adaptation of the movie? I see that it was published 1999, after the movie. I am not kidding, this is the very first movie I watched about the whole World War Two. It's this movie that I realized, still a kid back then, that not all German soldiers of Nazi Germany were Nazis, and in fact it is the opposite: most of them were not.

Speaking of samurai films, I recently watched 壬生義士伝 (When the Last Sword Is Drawn) again. Great film - if somewhat unnecessarily prolonged towards the end - about two Shinsengumi samurai (played by Nakai Kiichi and Satō Kōichi) against the backdrop of the fall of the Tokugawa shogun.

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18

I also watched L'Autrichienne, a 1990 film by Pierre Granier-Deferre about the trial against the deposed queen consort of France, Marie Antoinette of Austria. It doesn't seem to have ever been officially translated - it was one of the many smaller films that came out at the 200th anniversary of the French revolution - but it wasn't as hard to keep up as I had feared. It probably helps to know the general events that took place, as the film doesn't give a whole lot of context. Ute Lemper shines as the sickly Marie Antoinette, and Patrick Chesnais and Daniel Mesguich have great roles as well. Recommended!

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18

Haha, same here. It just... dragged to much I guess. Same with LOTR, watched the first, and stopped there.

I got on alright with LOTR, even the Extended Editions. With a few exceptions (Ents in TTT, ROTK's endless endings) I felt those films earned their length. The first Hobbit film didn't do that. Almost every scene ran longer than it should and after the first dozen inconsequential action scenes I started wishing for the fast-forward button. I know the studio generally gets the blame for dictating three films, but going by Jackson's other work I doubt they had to try very hard to persuade him. He really does seem to think that more = better.

On a vaguely related note, I recall thinking during the mines sequence that it could just about be transplanted whole into a video game. Insert some QTE prompts and away you go.

On the subject. I've watched the Hobbit part 2 and I found annoying its over the toppness. The action scenes turn to the ridiculous very quickly. There is fire AND EXPLOSIONS AND RUBBLE COMING DOWN AND THE DRAGON STOMPS AND ITS TAIL GOES AROUND AND LOOK MORE FIRE AND SPARKS AND MORE THINGS COMING DOWN AAAAAAH.
And every action scene goes like this, like the barrel going around killing everyone. It's too over the top and too ridiculous. It completely destroys immersion for me.
The LOTR trilogy was much more measured in this regard.

On the subject. I've watched the Hobbit part 2 and I found it annoying its over the toppness. The action scenes turn to the ridiculous very quickly. There is fire AND EXPLOSIONS AND RUBBLE COMING DOWN AND THE DRAGON STOMPS AND ITS TAIL GOES AROUND AND LOOK MORE FIRE AND SPARKS AND MORE THINGS COMING DOWN AAAAAAH.
And every action scene goes like this, like the barrel going around killing everyone. It's too over the top and too ridiculous. It completely destroys immersion for me.
The LOTR trilogy was much more measured in this regard.

You explained those scenes like an excited child. You know. The target demographic of the book.

"Halo is designed to make the player think "I look like that, I am macho sitting in my undies with my xbox""

@Sabrage: Even that scene is mild compared to the Hobbit. If it was Hobbitesed Legolas would be doing cartweels while stuff is exploding in the background.

Originally Posted by Jesus_Phish

You explained those scenes like an excited child. You know. The target demographic of the book.

I know, but it seems like it's too much. It kinda desensitizes you to the action. I don't think having that many things going on adds anything to those scenes. Even for a child.
Maybe the ADHD generations disagree with me. I'm old and grumpy.

Gravity was spectacular and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Elven Super-Ninjas Overcoming their Racism and Learning to Love was a fun adventure.

The best part of Gravity: Immersion (achieved by some masterful cinematography)Probably the best movie I saw in 2013.

The best part of TH:TDoSaES-NOtRaLtL: Turning off my skepticism and experiencing the tale as a child would do with a serial bedtime storyOne or two parts felt unnecessarily padded, like the key/doorway scene, but it was otherwise an adventure romp. The spiders were actually kind of terrifying, and the portrayal of Smaug's enormity was a real highlight.

Watched Don Jon with Joseph Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson & Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore). About a porn obsessed guy. It was pretty well done, and JGL has a certain degree of charisma to him, but be aware it doesn't hold back on the occasional porn clips in there (albeit no wangs on display). Not a date movie necessarily.

Watched Don Jon with Joseph Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson & Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore). About a porn obsessed guy. It was pretty well done, and JGL has a certain degree of charisma to him, but be aware it doesn't hold back on the occasional porn clips in there (albeit no wangs on display). Not a date movie necessarily.

From the title I would have assumed this was an adaptation Mozart's Don Giovanni. Looking at your description it kind of is.

Also, I love the idea of rating films based on how date-appropriate they are. I give The Hobbit a solid three out of five dating points.

I was pretty young when the LOTR films came out and I sat through them just fine. I think if the secound hobbit is gripping like the first kids will get it through fine. I mean kids sometimes can watch the same film over and over again in a day.

For some reason I've felt far more relaxed towards the Hobbit films than the LotR ones. It's probably just an adjustment of expectations. They're OK as adventure films but I haven't had the sense of an epic fantasy adventure from either of them. Maximum sighage at the crowbarred-in romances though.

Anyway, watching these things in 3D and higher frame rates seems to disagree with my brain. I don't get nausea or motion sickness but the 3D just makes everything look like cardboard cut-outs and I get eye strain after a while. Perhaps my eyes are broken.

The films seem to be targeted at a younger audience too. Only what kid will sit through a 3-hour film?

My dad took his grand kids to see both Hobbit movies, they're aged around 8 and 10 (and would've been younger obviously for the first one). Both of them sat through both movies silently and enjoyed the hell out of them. Obviously they're not the representation of every kid ever, but if a movie engages them enough, they'll watch it for hours, just like they'll play a game that engages them for hours too.

"Halo is designed to make the player think "I look like that, I am macho sitting in my undies with my xbox""